House Vote Oks Deportation Delay

July 29, 1987|By MARK J. PRENDERGAST, Senior Correspondent

WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday voted 238-181 to suspend for two years the deportation of thousands of Salvadorans and Nicaraguans illegally living in the United States, many of whom have settled in South Florida.

For the measure to become law, however, it needs the approval of the Senate and President Reagan. The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed a similar measure, but congressional sources said the bill probably would not come before the full Senate until October.

Moreover, the inclusion of Salvadorans raises the possibility of a presidential veto. Earlier this month, the Reagan administration extended protection against deportation to Nicaraguan refugees, but refused to grant similar status to Salvadorans.

A White House spokesman Tuesday night declined to comment on the House action, which went largely along party lines, with Democrats voting heavily in favor of the bill and Republicans mostly against it.

Various estimates put the number of Salvadorans in the United States at more than half a million and the number of Nicaraguans at 150,000 -- with as many as 75,000 Nicaraguans said to be in South Florida. It is impossible to determine how many from either war-torn country are undocumented and thus potentially eligible for deportation, although the numbers are thought to be high.

The Salvadoran question dominated Tuesday`s two-hour House debate on the bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Miami. Florida congressmen speaking for the bill included Rep. Larry Smith, D-Hollywood; those speaking against it included Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale.

Opponents of protected status for Salvadoran aliens echoed the administration position that the U.S.-backed government of El Salvador, which is fighting a war against leftist guerrillas, is democratic. They said human rights abuses have declined drastically in recent years and that few deported refugees could demonstrate the legally required ``well-founded fear of persecution`` upon their return.

Unlike Nicaraguans, who the administration maintains are mostly fleeing a repressive communist dictatorship locked in battle with U.S.-backed Contra guerrillas, Salvadorans are trying to escape not political strife but a stagnant economy, congressional opponents of the Pepper bill argued Tuesday.

To press home that point and to rebut claims that the Salvadoran refugee flood is largely the result of Reagan policies in Central America, several congressmen cited immigration statistics that Salvadorans have been the second-largest group, after Mexicans, of illegal immigrants for 30 years.

The bill`s supporters countered that the majority of Salvadorans have emigrated since 1980, and they accused the administration of favoritism toward anti-communist Nicaraguan refugees.

Although the bill`s opponents said its passage constituted a slap at Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte and his efforts to bring democratic reform, Duarte himself has endorsed the bill, saying a massive return of Salvodoran exiles would wreak further havoc on that country`s sagging economy. If enacted into law, the bill would allow the refugees to work legally and obtain state -- but not federal -- welfare assistance.